Latency measurement in resource requests

• US 9,407,681 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2010
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Richardson, David R., Cormie, John, MacCarthaigh, Colm, Redman, Benjamin W. S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Hua
• Application Number:
  US12/892,852
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Systems and method for the management and processing of resource requests by a service provider, such as a content delivery network (“CDN”) service provider, on behalf of a content provider are provided. The CDN service provider can measure the performance associated with the delivery of resources to a requesting client computing devices from various computing devices associated with the CDN service provider. In one embodiment, a client computing device can execute code, such as scripts, that cause the client computing device to transmit requests to different computing devices associated with the CDN service provider'"'"'s domain. Information associated with the processing of the responses can be used to measure CDN service provider latencies.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing, by a service provider, executable code for generating a set of requests to the service provider to determine latency information for different components of the service provider, wherein the executable code includes instructions for configuring a first request and a second request to determine latency information from the set of requests, wherein the first request is configured to be directed to a first identified component of the service provider at a first IP address and the second request is configured to be directed to a second identified component of the service provider at a second IP address, and wherein the first and second identified components of the service provider are different;

obtaining, by the service provider, the first and second requests from a client computing device at different components of the service provider, wherein each of the first and second requests is generated by the client computing device as a function of having executed the provided executable code and wherein the first request is obtained by the first identified component of the service provider and the second request is obtained by the second identified component of the service provider;

processing, by the service provider, the first and second requests to determine latency information, wherein the processing includes collecting information associated with the respective first and second requests to determine latency information; and

determining, by the service provider, latency information associated with the first and second requests from the client computing device, the latency information corresponding to a communication latency between the client computing device and the first and second identified components of the service provider.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing, by the service provider, executable code for generating the set of requests to the service provider includes providing, by the service provider, the executable code to a content provider for embedding in a network resource.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the executable code corresponds to a script.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising providing at least one embedded resource identifier corresponding to an additional resource to be provided by the service provider.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the service provider corresponds to a content delivery network service provider.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein processing at least one of the first and second requests includes providing no resource responsive to the request.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising providing a response to at least one of the first and second requests transmitted by the client computing device.

8. A computer-implemented system comprising:

a data store for storing performance metric information associated with processing resource requests; and

a computing system in communication with said data store that is operative to;

provide information for generating a series of requests to a service provider to determine latency information for different components of the service provider, wherein the information includes instructions for configuring at least a first request and a second request to determine latency information from the series of requests, wherein the first request is configured to be directed to a first identified component of the service provider at a first IP address and the second request is configured to be directed to a second identified component of the service provider at a second IP address, and wherein the first and second identified components of the service provider are different;

obtain the first and second requests from a client computing device at different components of the service provider, wherein each of the first and second requests is generated by the client computing device having executed the provided instructions and wherein the first request is obtained by the first identified component of the service provider and the second request is obtained by the second identified component of the service provider;

process the first and second requests to determine latency information, wherein the processing includes collecting information associated with the respective first and second requests to determine latency information;

determine latency information associated with each of the first and second requests, wherein the latency information corresponds to a communication latency between the client computing device and the first and second identified components of the service provider; and

update performance metric information according to the latency information.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the information for generating the series of requests to the service provider corresponds to executable code executable by a software application associated with the client computing device.

10. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein processing each of the first and second requests includes providing no resource responsive to each request.

11. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein processing each of the first and second requests includes providing a resource responsive to each request.

12. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the information for generating a series of requests to the service provider corresponds to a script.

13. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the computing system is further operative to provide at least one embedded resource identifier corresponding to an additional resource to be provided by the service provider.

14. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the computing system determines latency information associated with the first and second requests based on latency information obtained from the client computing device associated with the first and second requests and provided to the computing system responsive to execution of the executable code.

15. A computer-implemented system comprising:

at least one processing device that is operative to;

provide, by a service provider, executable code for generating a set of requests to the service provider to determine latency information for different components of the service provider, wherein the executable code includes instructions for configuring a first request a second request to determine latency information from the set of requests, wherein the first request is configured to be directed to a first identified component of the service provider at a first IP address and the second request is configured to be directed to a second identified component of the service provider at a second IP address, and wherein the first and second identified components of the service provider are different;

obtain, by the service provider, the first and second requests from a client computing device at different components of the service, wherein each of the first and second requests is generated by the client computing device as a function of having executed the provided executable code and wherein the first request is obtained by the first identified component of the service provider and the second request is obtained by the second identified component of the service provider;

process, by the service provider, the first and second requests to determine latency information, wherein the processing includes collecting information associated with the respective first and second requests to determine latency information; and

determine, by the service provider, latency information associated with the first and second requests from the client computing device, the latency information corresponding to a communication latency between the client computing device and the first and second identified components of the service provider.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein providing, by the service provider, executable code for generating the set of requests to the service provider includes providing, by the service provider, the executable code to a content provider for embedding in a network resource.

17. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the at least one processing device is further operative to provide at least one embedded resource identifier corresponding to an additional resource to be provided by the service provider.

18. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein processing at least one of the first and second requests includes providing no resource responsive to the request.

19. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the at least one processing device is further operative to provide a response to at least one of the first and second requests transmitted by the client computing device.